Hunger is a part of our everyday lives. Those physical cues ensure that we know when our body needs additional fuel for energy, so we can keep going throughout the day. But if you’re starting to feel hungry again after you’ve just eaten, or you find that day after day you’re not feeling satisfied with your meals, that can feel frustrating and confusing.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common reasons you might be feeling hungry all the time.

1. You’re Not Eating Enough Protein

Protein is not only important for building muscle and supporting a healthy body, but it’s also critical for helping you feel full and satisfied after your meals – and for longer. 

Protein takes much longer to digest than carbohydrates, which means it also helps you feel full for longer as your digestive system works to break it down. 

The amount of protein you should aim to eat in a day depends on various different factors, including your height, age, and any exercise/weight management goals you have. Everyone should be eating protein every day, and if you’re trying to build muscle, you should aim for a protein goal of 0.6-1g of protein per pound of body weight.

Common protein-rich foods include eggs, meat, fish, tofu, beans, and legumes.

2. You’re Not Eating Enough Whole Foods (Fiber)

Whole foods, like fruits and vegetables, contain a fair amount of fiber, which can play an important role in how hungry you feel and how often you feel hungry.

Fiber helps regulate your digestive system, and because it takes longer for your body to digest/break down (similar to protein) it can help keep you feeling fuller for longer.

There are two main types of fiber: soluble and insoluble fiber. Our bodies are able to digest soluble fiber, because it can absorb water. Our bodies can’t digest insoluble fiber, so it moves through our digestive systems undissolved. Both types of fiber are important for digestive health, but soluble fiber plays a bigger role in helping you feel full. 

Common fiber-rich whole foods include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes.

3. You’re Eating Too Many Snacks

If you find that you’re always hungry throughout the day, it might be your instinct to reach for a snack to try and take the edge off your hunger. But if you’re constantly snacking, you might just be feeding the cycle.

Snacks aren’t meant to fill you up. Rather, they’re meant to tide you over to help you make it to your next meal. So, if you’re snacking, but you’re never actually sitting down for that full meal, you might end up just feeling endlessly hungry. 

Try eating at least 3 full, balanced meals throughout the day.

4. Your Meals Are Too Small

This might specifically apply to you if you’re working toward a weight loss goal: you might be making your meals too small.

If you’re trying to lose weight, it might seem like the logical answer to try to cut calories where you can and eat smaller meals. But what often ends up happening are your meals are too small, leaving you hungry and more prone to snacking. Ultimately, you might end up consuming more calories throughout the day than if you’d just had the slightly bigger meal in the first place.

Try bulking up your meals with foods that will keep you full, like foods rich in protein and fiber. Then, do what you can to cut snacks in between. This should help you feel more full while also helping you stay on track for your weight loss goal.

5. You’re Eating Too Many High-Sugar, Highly Processed Foods

Foods that are highly refined or high in sugar can cause your feelings of hunger to go on a rollercoaster ride. 

Most highly processed foods are very low in the components that can help keep us full, like protein and fiber. They also tend to be high in carbohydrates and sugar. 

Our bodies digest refined carbohydrates and sugar very quickly, which can lead to rapid spikes in our blood sugar. When our blood sugar gets so high so fast, our bodies rush to produce insulin, the hormone responsible for bringing sugar from the bloodstream into the cells to be used as energy.

Now the insulin has removed the sugar from our blood, so our blood sugar levels are going to crash. Suddenly, you’re going to feel hungry again – very shortly after you just ate.

If you can, reach for whole foods rather than highly processed ones. This will help prevent the sudden changes in your blood sugar levels and help you feel more full and satisfied.

6. You’re Not Eating Enough Early in the Day

For those looking to lose weight, you might try to think of situations or times of the day when it would be easiest for you to cut out some extra calories. For many, that’s early in the day. A lot of people tend to feel less hungry earlier in the day, or they’re busy going about their days, so they’ll put off eating.

Unfortunately, this usually just leads to feeling overwhelmingly hungry at the end of the day, so hungry that you’re likely more susceptible to cravings, late-night snacking, and overeating.

When we go so long between meals, it can throw our hunger cues out of whack and make our bodies feel like we need to consume as much as possible right now because it’s not sure when we’ll be able to have our next meal. Try to ensure that you’re eating regularly throughout the day, at least a little something every 3-4 hours, to help prevent this.

7. You’re Not Sleeping Enough

All the different systems in our bodies are connected, and it’s very likely that if you’re not getting enough sleep, it’s contributing to how often you feel hungry. 

According to some studies, regularly not sleeping well contributed to lower leptin levels in the body. Leptin is the hormone that signals to your brain that you feel full, so if there’s less of it, you’ll feel less satisfied and hungry more often.

When leptin is lower, this also causes ghrelin to increase. Ghrelin is the hormone that tells the brain that you’re hungry and need food.

This is likely because sleep is a source of energy for us. Without enough, high-quality sleep, we don’t feel rested, so our bodies turn up the hunger dials so we can try to gain some energy from food.

Try to ensure that you’re getting between 7-9 hours of good quality sleep every night. Some people may even need more than 9 hours of sleep, but less than 7 hours is usually considered not enough sleep.

Take Charge of Your Health: Work With a Coach

There are many moving pieces to your health, and almost all of them are interconnected – your hunger cues are connected to your sleep schedule, your diet, your fitness routine, and so much more. It can be difficult to ensure you’re addressing all the necessary components to reach your goals.

Working with an online fitness and nutrition coach could be the support that you need to get in touch with your body, understand your hunger cues, and build a healthy and satisfying diet. If you want to learn more about working with an online coach, read the comprehensive guide. And if you think online coaching is for you, head to the inquiry form so that we can connect one-on-one.

Written by Emily Greffenius. Reviewed by Meghan Farrell, CPT, BSN